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Packard Band plays special show for Memorial Day

The W.D. Packard Concert Band will remember those who gave their lives in service to their country with a Memorial Day Remembrance concert.

Stephen L. Gage will lead the band in a program filled with patriotic selections.

Guest vocalist Doug Thomas will perform Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” and Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” Thomas was a vocalist with I Don’t Care, a local band that was signed to Buddha Records in the mid-’70s. He also has sung with such bands as the Mainstreet Lions, Full Moon All-Stars and Back Traxx. Thomas’ father, the late Frank “Pete” Thomas, was a longtime member of the Packard Band.

Bradley J. Holko, a John F. Kennedy High School and John Carroll University graduate who regularly serves as master of ceremonies for the band’s Christmas concert, will narrate Robert W. Smith’s “Stone Gardens.” Also on the program is a second Smith composition, “Aces (For Those Who Command the Skies).”

The band will remember Joseph Parlink, who died earlier this year, with E.E. Bagley’s “National Emblem” march. Parlink was principal percussionist with the W.D. Packard Concert Band and the 3rd Armored Division Band.

Other selections on the program include Paul Murtha’s “Heroic Fanfare” and “Frederick’s Black Devils” march, Lauren Keiser’s “To Those We Remember,” Larry MacTaggart’s “Elegy (For the U.S.S. Arizona),” Andrew Glover’s “God Sheds His Grace on Thee,” a Colonial Medley arranged by David Louvrien and an Armed Forces Salute arranged by Bob Lowden.

The concert starts at 3 p.m. Sunday at Packard Music Hall, 1703 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren. Admission is free, and funding is provided by the W.D. Packard trust.

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